Moscow region authorities to spur development of science cities

KRASNOGORSK, Moscow region, February 18. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s Moscow Region is home to eight science cities today, and the regional authorities will not increase their number, aiming to intensify the development of the existing growth areas, Denis Butsayev, the minister for innovations and investments of the Moscow region, told journalists on Tuesday.

“The research centre of Dubna is an example. We are not quite satisfied with the long-term plan for the development of this town. The zone in Dubna should actually have developed more rapidly,” Butsaev said. “At present, there are 100 residents in the Special Economic Zone ‘Dubna’. This is the biggest number of residents in such zones in Russia. By 2018, the zone should reach a target of 300 residents and 10 billion roubles of tax revenues per year.”

Butsayev said the government of the Moscow Region was currently working on a target programme to support “the growth points”, which would be revealed in each science city and would “represent those industrial and business incubators where scientific ideas can be put into practice”.

“We are not planning to create new science cities yet,” he said. “We consider that those eight we have already possess the whole spectrum of innovations which could be interesting for investors.”

“If we build a full-scale business incubator and turn it into ‘a growth point’ for science and industry, we will accomplish a task of the federal level,” Butsayev added.

There are currently 13 officially recognised sites with a specific status in Russia. Eight of them are located in the Moscow region: Dubna, Zhukovski, Korolyov, Pushchino, Reutov, Fryazino, Chernogolovka and Protvino.

These cities are populated mainly by researchers and their families, providing a favourable environment for research, development and innovation activities.

Dubna was one of the first to obtain the official science city status, being home to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research - an international nuclear physics research center and one of the largest scientific foundations in the country.